Christina Applegate Was Initially Offered the Role of Elle Woods in 'Legally Blonde' But She Turned It Down; Why?

If there is one role Christina Applegate really regrets passing up, then that would have to be Elle Woods from "Legally Blonde," which eventually landed on the lap of Reese Witherspoon.

That role really defined Witherspoon's career and solidified her presence in Hollywood, and should she have taken the plunge and took that role, Applegate's career might be headed towards a different direction right now.

"The script came along my way and it was right after I had just finished, 'Married With Children,' and it was a blonde who in that first script is dim witted but ends up going to Yale, or Harvard, I don't remember. But I was scared. I got scared of, kind of repeating myself," she told Entertainment Tonight.

"What a stupid move that was, right?" she added.

However, Applegate agrees that Witherspoon did a fantastic job portraying Elle Woods, and she believes that the actress deserves everything that has come her way.

"Reese deserved that. She did a much better job than I ever could, and so that's her life. That's her path," she said.

To recall, Elle Woods is the pink-wearing, puppy-carrying sorority girl who was devastated when her long-time boyfriend Warner Huntington III decides to break up with her because she is not that "serious" in life, whereas he plans of taking up law in Harvard.

She later finds out that Warner has a new fiancée, Vivian Kensington, also a law student at Harvard. Determined to win Warner back, Elle takes up the Harvard admission exam and manages to make it in, much to the surprise of everyone.

However, things do not go smoothly for Elle in Harvard, especially since everyone looks down at her as a ditzy blonde. She studies hard and even manages to make it to Professor Callahan's pool of interns, together with Warner and Vivian, and she meets Emmett, an associate attorney.

They are working on a case for Brooke Taylor Windham, a famous fitness instructor who married a much older billionaire husband, who has been accused of murdering her husband. Nobody from Callahan's team believed in Brooke's innocence apart from Elle, and she promised her client not to reveal her alibi even if it meant losing their case.

In the end, Elle manages to prove Brooke's innocence because of her hair and parlor knowledge, and she was able to tag Brooke's daughter-in-law for the crime. She befriends Vivian and the two dump Warner together, and Elle starts a relationship with Emmett.